138 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



with the brindled colour sometimes to be 

 found on badly-bred specimens. When the 

 self-coloured black Schipperke is ' off 

 colour,' there is a woolly look about the 

 coat. The mane (criniere) and thigh-breech- 



MISS L. A. LUPTON'S RED SCHIPPERKE RUFUS 



BY FIRWOOD FILBERT ZAMPA 



BRED BY MRS. DEANE WILLIS. 

 Photograph by T. Fall. 



ing (culotte) are of the greatest importance ; 

 the first-mentioned imparting a leonine 

 aspect to the little Schipperkes. This mane 

 is composed of long harsh hairs growing 

 through an undercoat so abundant and 

 dense as to support them from the thick 

 neck this gives the mane a full appearance. 

 As the Belgian standard states, the mane 

 should ' commence behind the ears,' and 

 it should finish a little below the shoulder 

 points. On dogs that have a good mane, 

 such as Champions Hubert and Frans, and 

 Exter Menne, it is easy to see where the 

 mane stops and the ordinary body-coat 

 continues ; the mane appearing to fall 

 over the body-coat. The coat on the back 

 and sides is often not so coarse in texture 

 as the mane, but it generally becomes a 

 little harsher just over the hips and on the 

 ' breeches.' The literal description of 

 the texture of the coat in the Belgian 

 standard is resistant au toucher, which may 

 be freely translated, ' harsh,' but it does 



not mean wiry. The French expression 

 precludes the hairs being woolly or fluffy, 

 and if the Belgian breeders had desired to 

 say that they required more than harshness 

 they had the phrase handy, ' poil dur,' 

 which is 'hard coat.' Therefore, the pin- 

 wire hair, or cocoa-nut matting texture of 

 coat which is sought after in some terrier 

 varieties would not be correct for a Schip- 

 perke, whose coat should be, not soft, but 

 ' resistant au toucher.'' The culotte or thigh- 

 breeching is as characteristic and essential 

 as the mane, and the Belgian standard 

 includes among ' faults ' the absence of 

 both or either. This question of coat is 

 deserving of considerable attention, as it is 

 necessary to avoid the long coat all over 

 the body of the Pomeranian and the wiry 

 coat of the Welsh Terrier. These are the 

 Scylla and Charybdis through which the 

 barge dogs have to steer their way, as it 

 would be equally fatal to be cast on the 

 hard rock of the wire-hair as to get lost in 

 the Pomeranian whirlpool. If, with the 

 delusive hope of obtaining the mane, a 

 Pomeranian cross were resorted to, the ex- 

 periment would be exposed by the resulting 

 long coat all over the body, instead of the 

 full mane falling over a short coat on the 

 back. In the points it will be observed 

 thirty have been allotted to ' coat and 

 colour,' these being deemed of equal im- 

 portance with ' head and ears,' and just 

 as distinctive of the breed. Judging by 

 points should never be adopted, as their 

 only object is to explain to the novice the 

 relative values. A white spot is included 

 among the faults, but a few straggling white 

 hairs are tolerable. The one word ' foxey ' 

 serves to describe the head, and the skull 

 must be wide and flat like other varieties 

 of prick-eared canicice, such as the Collie, 

 Pomeranian, Arctic dogs, etc. An under- 

 shot jaw is an intolerable blemish. The 

 word ' full ' applied to the neck requires 

 it to be thick and suggestive of virility. 

 The neck of the female is seldom so full 

 as the male's, nor do the bitches carry as 

 much mane as the dogs. The back of the 

 Schipperke is described as straight, but it 

 should round off at the rump, which should 



